Best Practices for Network Security - Report Example

Best Practices for Network Security Grade April 14, Best Practices for Network Security Best practices for network security are the actions, plans and steps taken to ensure that the network is always safe and secured. It is something that is so compromising for a network without a security policy. The responsibility of protecting the computer files and all information (e.g., employer’s information) in the network depend on the practices that are applied for the security. There are those procedures that are followed to see that the network is fully secured to prevent it from attacks and threats. It is good to understand the how best practices are implemented depending on the risk profile. Discussion The threat of infected products, such as laptops, spam’s, malware attacks and malicious insiders requires an organization to put in place state of the art intrusion systems and fool proof, by deep packet-inspecting firewalls (Caughey & Shrivastava, 2010). These coupled with the requirements of complying regulations can end up causing extreme pressure. To cope with this it will be prudent for an organization to implement a number of best network security practices. Basically the practices refer to the steps taken by the organization as a safeguard against threats to network security. Applying physical security is still another way and a part to protect the networks. It is also safer to use technologies such as Outlook access that uses RPC and HTTPS and Microsoft Outlook Web Access in order to decrease the urge of the network in those remote connections. The wireless network should not be left out too, ensuring that it is secured to prevent the users who are unrecognized from gaining access to the resources of the network. The worm or the virus in the computer can attack the internet and other systems that are in the internal network and this can result in wastage of bandwidth and destruction and wastage of other computer resources. Dramatically, these worms and virus have increased and leading to secure the network in all ways (Abelson H., 2007).. IPSec can also be used to prevent unrecognized person from accessing the network. A person should consider all travelling laptops and Microsoft Window servers to windows XP are upgraded into Internet-facing servers to reduce the risk of attack surface. These products are high risky devices and they should be applied an additional security features such as Windows firewalls. For the security of the network to be tighter, make sure the IT staffs gives an executive support and they should also have enough knowledge to run a productive security programs. Encryption Encryption is just one of the most well known for network security. Encryption is a safe practice that prevents an unauthorized person’s from stealing other people’s identity and from accessing classified information. For those who are operating e-commerce businesses without the knowledge of what encryption entail, it is like committing suicide for the business. This is because eavesdropping third parties (hackers) can illegally and easily obtain customers credit card information if it was not insufficiently encrypted (Agrawal, D. and Kesdogan, D. 2003). Apparently, do not encrypt SSL session only, because this alone cannot prevent the customer’s information from being stolen. A company that encrypts SSL session only is an easy target for Hackers. For an example, a shopping cart system of such a company can take in encrypted credit card information and have it stored in an unencrypted plain text on a database server attached to the Web server. Servers attached this way are susceptible to be attacked by hackers. This is because a mere attack on the servers through an SQL injection can cause the hackers to have access to the consumers’ records. Such records can then be used to siphon from banks (Abelson, H. 2007). Such information can also be sold in black markets to facilitate fraudulent activities. To prevent the above from happening, the best practice for network security would be to look at all aspects of data manipulation and electronic communication in the organization. File transfer, chat, e-mail and all instant messages should also be included. All data creation, change, deletion and retrieval should also be considered (Athanansiades, & Abler, et al 2003) . There is a way to store the customers’ records and other confidential information in the electronic version because it is not enough backing up the data only. To access the network through the encrypted tunnel, make sure the systems are not vulnerable at the weakest links in the organizations infrastructure. Set a VPN (virtual private networks) to those who have access to the networks outside, and if they are not fully patched, do not let them in. Another major reason to set a VPN is to keep connection from either home to remote offices or vice versa to see the data is protected. The file transfer can encrypt everything from hard drives to e-mail sessions. There is a need to keep policies in place because of the key storage and password access. If the keys and the passwords are lost by the end users, they will be a way to decrypt the information by simply resetting the keys or changing the passwords. Some of the servers and services already offer encryption (Abelson, H. 2007). It good to see that the servers are set with secure accounts passwords because the whole thing can come crashing just because of one weak link. It is advisable to secure all the connection points. Just like for the firewalls, if you don’t want to be disabled, make sure no settings that are critical to security and proper system function are changeable. If in any case a laptop with confidential records is stolen, the thief will not have the password or key to decrypt the data. Encrypt all communication and data whenever possible. Firewalls A firewall is a process designed to avoid unauthorized access. It can also be implemented as hardware’s-based or software’s-based that takes part in protecting the network. Firewalls are very important for network securities. The two major types of firewalls are Host-based firewalls (such as internet connection) and network firewall (such as software-based internet security). They control the traffic of outgoing and incoming network by analyzing the data packets to see whether it is convenient to go or not, based on a predetermined rule modified (Davis, 1994). Messages that enter or leave in the internet will always pass through the firewalls. Ensure that every workstation is secured and set up with proper firewalls. It is very easy for the employees to disable the firewalls in a second if they need to access a site or a file that is promoting them to disable it. Efficiently, in an individual computer, the firewalls help to block bad guys from comprising it. The administrator settings on every workstation should be set so that employees are not capable of disabling the firewalls or security settings without any authorization and password. Apply Firewalls to all the connection points for security purposes. There are a few techniques of firewall. Examples are; proxy server (shows all messages whether incoming or outgoing in the network) Packet filter (looks for every packet incoming or outgoing in the network accepting or rejecting them depending on user-defined rules) Application gateway and circuit level gateway (these two deals with security mechanisms each in its own ways (Davis, 1994). Watchful eye inspection is not enough for the viruses not to get in through time to time, it is more convenient to use Firewalls as a security method. The solid anti-virus software runs in all workstations till now and servers are crucial to maintaining a secure business office network. Anti-virus software can do a great job in protecting the network. It is always advisable to secure the network by using the firewalls. However, do not just depend on firewalls as the only means of defense to protect the network. To have enough protection of the network, consider and search all ways as additional factors. Cipher Optics Appliances The widespread illicit demand for sensitive information like credit card and bank account numbers, corporate intellectual property and social security numbers makes the issue of network security to be of paramount importance. Network security can be reinforced to help protect customer’s important information by using ID management, intrusion detection and firewalls. The most important thing is to protect the data itself. The dynamic nature of data means that it is moving around the World Wide Web at any given time. As stated earlier, the best network practice would be to encrypt the data moving around the network. However, the process of encryption although efficient is time consuming, expensive and highly complicated (Agrawal, D. and Kesdogan, D. 2003). Naturally, this degrades application performance and the network. The best practice will be to prevent any unintended leakage of data by using Two Cipher Optics appliances. These appliances prevent unintended leakage of data by creating a secure tunnel over the MPLS infrastructure. The advantage of using Cipher Optics appliances is that it eliminates the need for complicated projects and the need to upgrade the router infrastructure. All that one is required to do to make the link secure is to add encryption policies. The approach of Cipher optics appliance has several benefits (Athanansiades, & Abler, et al 2003). For examples, the cost savings that accrue when the toll-by pass of telecommunication company is enabled by using the MPLS. Again, preventing data leakage in cases of mis-configured switches helps to protect customers’ information. Lastly, the use of the network overlay appliance is a major investment proof for the company. Installing Cipher optic systems takes less time in comparison to encrypting data. The approach results to a zero network downtime in that the installation can take place during business hours. There is no impact on application or network performance in a completely transparent (Cline, R. 2010). For the infrastructure upgrading in networks, there is a minimum cost used to protect the investment. There is guaranteed new network segmentation because encryption is enforced. From this we can see that ensuring network security using Cipher Optics is easy because the need of using complicated encryption algorithms, network authentication, Access rules, end user authentication and hashing algorithms which are not easy to use is eliminated (Allen ,W. and Marin, G2004).. This security from Cipher optics allows simple and quick infrastructure access. This Cipher Optics still offers an innovate policy, coupled with quick high speed. It still helps the customers mitigate the risk of data leakage, theft and loss over any network. Physical Security When it comes to looking at network security best practices, physical security is often overlooked. Using the most complicated software and passwords in a network is not a big deal if a person can easily walk into server room freely. The server is a brain of the network and most likely in the place where the important documents are stored. A person can download or upload the whole network when easy access to the server room is applied. Password is not enough for security because physically the hard drives from the servers are what a person is looking to get the company’s files (Allen ,W. and Marin, G2004). Servers should be kept in a place or a room where the entrance and the exit is just one and if possible a plain site. To keep the servers secure and limit access to them it is safer to lock the biometrics, keypads and card swipes. The actual equipment such as, PCs, printers, cables, mice, keyboards etc should be secured from break in or internal theft by buying reinforced cables that can run in between and around the peripheral cables and connected the computers and bolted to the desks to keep the equipment stacked. Special designed cables (like bike locks electron iced) can be used to attach the laptops that are not in use. In the office or in the business, as an IT professional should be countable on all the equipments in the network and make sure to keep on high network security. It is advisable to teach the users (employees) how to handle the network carefully and safely because they are a big threat to it( McShane, S. & Von Glinow M. 2012). If there is a change in the network, update the employees. HIPS Solutions Hot Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) are solutions that protect the networks against known and unknown malicious attacks from the networks layer to the application layer (Bannet & Price, 2004). In a single host, it monitors any suspicious activity by analyzing events in the host that may occur. In case of malware or a hacker tries to change the application or in case of attempted operating system, HIPs alerts the user on how to make the next step and prohibits the action from proceeding (Cline, R. 2010). HIPS are becoming more of use in homes, businesses and any other environment. These solutions are keeping the system effectively and in a good situation. HIPS do not deal only with the issues concerning alerts, but also when unknown application attempt launching. But it also gives granular controls how files and folders, external devices, USB drives, registry keys and network resources to access in similar application. Threats to the network security are increasing numerously making the firewalls and anti-virus vendors to change the way of scanning. The anti-virus will not stop if it doesn’t have a signature for it when the attacker is trying to exploit an unknown vulnerability. HIPS take a similar approach to PC protection than the normal anti-malware traditional signature. References Abelson, H. (2007) The Risks of Key Recovery, Key Escrow, and Trusted Third-Party Encryption. World Wide Web Journal, 2(3), 34-90. Agrawal, D. and Kesdogan, D. (2003) Measuring Anonymity: The Disclosure Attack. Measuring Anonymity: The Disclosure Attack, 1(6), 9-12. Allen ,W. and Marin, G(2004). The Loss Technique for Detecting New Denial of Service Attacks, Local Computer Networks, 9(10) 10-13. Athanansiades, N. and Abler, R. et al (2003) Intrusion Detection Testing and Benchmarking Methodologies Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Bannet, J. and Price, D. (2004). Hack-a-Vote: Security Issues with Electronic Voting Systems, Ardsley NY: Transnational Publishers. Barford, P and Plonka, D. (2001). Characteristics of Network Traffic Flow Anomalies. Internet Measurement Workshop" 12(9), 87-105. Berghel, h. (2003). Communications of the ACM. Malware Month. 46(12) 13-9. Caughey, J. and Shrivastava, S. (2010) Architectural Support for Mobile Objects in Large Scale Distributed Systems, Barkely, CA: Transnational Publishers. Davis, T. (1994). Complete LAN security control. New York NY :Windcrest/ McGraw-Hill, William H. and Marin L. (2008). Globalization of I.T. Services and White Collar Jobs. 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